As is known, therapeutic hosiery items are special hosiery items conceived and structured so as to apply a dosed and optionally localized containment action in order to provide therapeutic effects on the lower limbs of the user.
For this reason, these hosiery items are mainly produced by using stretch yarns that are optionally pretensioned, with knitting processes aimed at achieving the intended therapeutic effect and with minimal concern for the aesthetic effect. Currently commercially available therapeutic hosiery items are generally produced with circular hosiery knitting machines using 1:1 knitting alternated with the formation of laid-in knitting.
This particular production method causes therapeutic hosiery items, particularly in the case of women's stockings, to be aesthetically very different from other kinds of hosiery item.
For this reason, currently commercially available therapeutic hosiery items generally are not seen favorably by users, particularly female users, since they are not able to achieve the elegance and softness of other hosiery item types.
Furthermore, the particular manufacturing method of currently commercially available therapeutic hosiery items requires, in order to produce the heel and/or toe regions, alternating rotary actuation of the needle cylinder about its axis, with relatively long production times and accordingly with relatively high production costs.